The present invention relates to methods and compositions for treating plants, and for enhancement of plant growth and crop yield.
Sugar has been applied to plants for tissue culture and for experimental purposes in the laboratory, but field application to plants is impractical. One of the primary limitations preventing crop application is that commonly applied sugars such as sucrose are not efficiently transported across plant cell membranes. As a result, sugar residues often remain on leaf surfaces. It would be beneficial to provide compositions for plant treatment for which membrane transport systems exist, which would enable the compositions to be absorbed by the plant and avoid the residues which result from the application of, for example, sugar.
Various higher order glucosides have been applied to plants or plant tissues. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,580 proposes benzylglucosides for propagating tissue cultures of geranium. U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,997 proposes diterpene glucosides for plant growth regulation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,201 proposes vitamin K derivatives including menadiol bis(glucoside tetraacetate) for accelerating plant growth. European Patent Publication No. 0 498 145 B1 proposes combinations of glyphosate herbicides with surfactant C.sub.8-10 alkyl glycosides or alkyl polyglycosides. U.S. Statutory Invention Registration No. H303 proposes 2-ethylhexylglucoside as a pesticidal dispersing agent.